VERTIGO: adapted Holloway, Nottingham Playhouse till 27 September.

Nottingham.

VERTIGO: adapted Jonathan Holloway.
Nottingham Playhouse: Tkts 0115 941 9419.
www.nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk.
Runs: 2h 10m: one interval: till 27th September.
Performance times: 7.45pm (matinees 2.30pm 20th Sept and 1.30pm 25th Sept).
Audio Described, Signed and Captioned 2.30pm 20th Sept, Audio Described and Captioned 24th Sept.
Review: Alan Geary: 16 September 2008.

Despite its shortcomings, the muted eroticism and twist ending make it entertaining.
It’s a superb clinic, and clinical, set, all gleaming taps and white tiles and towels. And, as is often the case when Giles Croft directs, it’s very linear, and on two levels, which in this instance are connected by a metal spiral staircase.

A psychologist/psychiatrist in a three-piece suit begins to lecture us on drive and instinct and how a collision between them can result in vertigo. He has a catatonic patient in pyjamas as an exhibit, and a male nurse is standing by. The patient is hypnotised into reliving his past. A tantalising start.

But as soon as - improbably - the shrink and male nurse start to fill in with supporting roles you sense that the play isn’t quite going to deliver on its initial promise. You sense aright.

And the fact that it’s all set against the German invasion and occupation of France proves in the end to be almost irrelevant.

David Acton, who’s good at slightly crazed self-satisfied scientific types, does Dr Jacques Ballard well. Phillipa Peake, both as Madeleine and as Renée, is sexy and convincing: she fills and unfills those forties costumes splendidly.

Ben Keaton is probably miscast: as ex-policeman Roger Flavières, he’s not sufficiently handsome. He does well nevertheless. But you don’t find yourself rooting for him; in fact it’s a weakness of the piece that not one of the protagonists is sufficiently sympathetic for us to care much about his or her fate.

This play is adapted from the same French novel as the notable fifties film with James Stewart and Kim Novak. It makes you want to see that film if you haven’t already done so, and, perhaps even more, read the novel, Cold Sweat: From Among the Dead, if it’s still available.

But, what with its muted eroticism and twist ending, this makes a good evening’s entertainment in its own right.

Dr Jacques Ballard: David Acton.
Gratin: Robin Bowerman.
Roger Flavières: Ben Keaton.
Madeleine/Renée: Phillipa Peake.

Director: Giles Croft.
Designer: Jamie Vartan.
Lighting Designer: Simon Corder.

2008-09-18 14:02:41